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Volleyball

Volleyball Sweeps LSU in SEC Opener Friday

BATON ROUGE, La. - The University of Missouri volleyball team (9-3, 1-0 SEC) picked up a 3-0 sweep (25-22, 25-12, 25-19) of LSU (8-4, 0-1 SEC) to commence SEC play Friday night at the Maravich Assembly Center.

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Box Score

BATON ROUGE, La. - The University of Missouri volleyball team (9-3, 1-0 SEC) picked up a 3-0 sweep (25-22, 25-12, 25-19) of LSU (8-4, 0-1 SEC) to commence SEC play Friday night at the Maravich Assembly Center.

With the victory, Mizzou extended its win streak to six matches. The Tigers are now 9-3 in 2024 and 1-0 in conference matches.

Mychael Vernon paced MU in her first career SEC match, totaling 17 kills on a personal-best .640 hitting percentage with seven digs and a career-best matching three aces.

Marina Crownover passed out 43 assists with a trio of digs as Mizzou hit .375 in the league opener.

Libero Maya Sands led the defense with 13 digs and a pair of aces.

FIRST SET (Mizzou wins 25-22, Mizzou leads 1-0)

Missouri took the first three points before extending its early advantage to 6-1. Regan Haith notched a trio of kills during the run to bring on an LSU timeout.

A rally stopper from Colleen Finney following an LSU service error extended the margin to 16-11.

LSU then strung together a 5-1 run to narrow the gap to 17-16.

Missouri responded with consecutive kills from Vernon to make the score 19-16.

Iliff added a pair of terminations to bring on set point at 24-21. She notched five kills in the opening frame Friday on a .333 clip.

Finney then delivered a kill to secure the set, 25-22.

Vernon chipped in four kills (.375) while Haith had three.  

SECOND SET (Mizzou wins 25-12, Mizzou leads 2-0)

The second frame featured seven ties as both teams fought for an advantage early.

Leading 10-9, Mizzou went on a 4-0 run for a slight 14-9 edge. Haith notched a kill and a pair of blocks during the sequence before a Vernon service ace.

The Tigers increased the rally to 8-1 to widen the gap to 18-10. Janet deMarrais knocked consecutive kills to go along with a pair of LSU Tiger errors.

Iliff then registered a kill before placing an ace for a 20-11 advantage.

The Tigers then secured the second stanza on a 5-0 run that featured a trio of terminations from Vernon. She had four kills (.800) over set #2 while deMarrais added three (.500).

Mizzou hit a match-best .476 in the second frame and wrapped the match with a .452 clip in the final set Friday.

THIRD SET (Mizzou wins 25-19, Mizzou wins 3-0)

Trailing 5-3, Mizzou scored the next four points for a 7-5 lead. deMarrais connected on a kill before consecutive aces from Iliff, capped by a Finney termination.

The final set was another tightly contested affair as Mizzou held a 15-13 edge at the media stoppage.

Sands added an ace out of the break before consecutive deMarrais kills coupled with a Finney rally stopper made the score 19-14.

Vernon then notched three-straight kills to start a 5-0 rally to capture the match, 25-19. Haith chipped in a rally stopper before Vernon secured the victory with another kill.

Vernon totaled nine kills on a .750 clip in the third set alone while deMarrais tallied five (.364). Crownover had 16 assists in the final set Friday.

MATCH NOTES

  • Mychael Vernon paced MU in her first career SEC match, totaling 17 kills on a personal-best .640 hitting percentage with seven digs and a career-best matching three aces.
  • Marina Crownover passed out 43 assists with a trio of digs as Mizzou hit .375 in the league opener. It also marked her first career SEC match.
  • Libero Maya Sands led the defense with 13 digs and a pair of aces.
  • Janet deMarrais secured nine kills to go with a block and a dig.
  • Jordan Iliff (six digs, three blocks, three aces) and Colleen Finney (.500) each totaled seven kills.
  • Regan Haith made her eighth start of the campaign and first in SEC play, tallying six kills, five blocks and a dig.
  • Kiaraliz Perez Catala notched eight digs over the start, her 10th of the season.
  • Alayna Pearson compiled her first service ace as a Missouri Tiger Friday.
  • Mizzou notched 10 aces Friday. It marked the fourth double-digit ace match of the 2024 campaign.
  • Missouri now leads the all-time series with LSU, 14-7. Mizzou picked up its first win over LSU since Jan. 29-30, 2021, in Columbia, Missouri. The win was also Missouri's first in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, since Oct. 2, 2020 (3-1).
  • The SEC opening win was the first in second-year head coach Dawn Sullivan's career.
  • Mizzou extended its win streak to six matches. The win streak is the longest for Mizzou during the Dawn Sullivan era.

LOOKING AHEAD

  • Mizzou next continues its SEC Opening weekend, traveling to College Station, Texas, to face Texas A&M (9-2, 0-1 SEC) Sunday. First serve is 2 p.m., CT at Reed Arena. The match will be televised on SEC Network+.
  • Following the Tigers' SEC Opening weekend, Mizzou next heads to No. 12 Kentucky Oct. 6 to continue its road stand. First serve is set for noon, CT in Lexington, Kentucky, in Missouri's fifth-straight road contest.

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